Monday, October 18, 2010

Update

For those of you who have been wanting to hear my whole labor/birth story, here it is. I won't mind at all if you skip this part. It's going to be long.

We lived in Star Valley with my parents for the summer while Mr. Rogue did an internship at the Bank of Star Valley. On June 30 (24 weeks along) I started having regular contractions. I called a few doctors and followed their advice of drinking lots of water, laying down, etc. I couldn't get them to stop. So after 4 hours of contractions every 5 minutes or less, I went into the hospital. (SV). I was hooked up to monitors for 15 minutes or so when Doctor Carter came in. He said he'd been watching my monitors and that he thought this was the real thing. He talked to me about some medications/shots that he can give me to see if we could stop the labor. First he gave me a shot in my arm. I wish I could remember what it was called. He told me though that this shot worked to stop labor in 90% of women and it worked within like 15 minutes. After a half hour, I was still having contractions, so they decided to give me another shot. A half hour after that, still having contractions, they gave me a new medicine in an oral dose. 15 minutes later they gave me more. Still nothing. The next time the doctor came in, he said that he had called AirMed and was life-flighting me to Ogden. (McKay-Dee). While we were waiting for the helicopter, they gave me my first injection of steroids (for the baby) in my rear-end. OUCH!!! The chopper got there at 1:00 a.m. I was strapped to a little ironing board and shoved in a cubby hole right behind the pilot. It took an hour to get to Ogden. Mr. Rogue wasn't able to ride with me so he had to leave SV at 1 and drive to Ogden. He got there in less than 3 hours....I can't really remember what all happened when I got to McKay-Dee. A few more pills and injections. At 4:00 a.m. they were able to stop my labor. I had had contractions for 12 hours by then. We stayed there for a few days while they monitored me. Everything seemed fine, so they sent me home. I was supposed to really take it easy. Not much walking, no sun, lots of water, etc. I kept having regular contractions, 5 minutes apart or less, pretty much through the rest of my pregnancy. I tried to stay down, but I don't think I was very good at it.I moved back to Logan with Little Red at the end of July because my doctor wanted me to be closer to a big hospital. When I made it to 32 weeks, my doctor said I could start getting back to my regular activities. 2 weeks later at my appointment, I was 50% effaced and he said "Whatever you're doing, STOP!" He saw me a week later and I was dialated to a 2 and 60% effaced. This was at 35 weeks. The next week I was at a 3 and 75% effaced. (36 weeks). My doctor wanted to see me two days later, and I was in labor by the time I got my my appointment. I was waiting on the bed when he came in and I told him I was hurting pretty bad. He asked if I was in labor, and I said, you tell me. He checked me and I was at a 4.5. He said I was in labor and sent me right upstairs to the delivery floor. They tried to slow down my labor because I was positive for Group B, and I had a 6 hour labor with Red. They started my antibiotics and after they had given me 2 doses, the doctor came and broke my water. I was still at a 4.5, and stayed there for 3.5 hours. I didn't need an epidural yet because I really wasn't hurting that bad. Then everything happened at once. I asked for the epi but I didn't get it as soon as I should have. I went from 4.5 cm to 10 in less than a half hour, and was trying so hard not to push before the doctor got there. He barely made it in time for me to push her out. One push and she was here. Labor ended up being 4 hours from when he broke my water. I felt all of it. I'm sure the epi helped, but I wasn't numb until AFTER the delivery and being stitched up. But I was very numb when they tried to move me from the bed. I couldn't do anything myself. Pretty annoying.

Miss Gray was 6 pounds 1 ounce, which we think is pretty great for being a month early. My due date was October 19. We were also so grateful that we were able to take her home with us after less than 48 hours in the hospital. We're so lucky that I was able to keep her in as long as I did. We never found out what caused the preterm labor. I had a couple different infections since 24 weeks that contributed to the contractions, but I didn't have them at 24 weeks. Still a mystery.

Here are some pictures of my girls.Thanks to Sami Jo Shurtleff for these super cute pictures of Red!And introducing Miss Gray...

That's it for now. I'm going to be adding new posts to my other blog: scarletandsilversprinkles.blogspot.com. Check it out too.

That is all so crazy and amazing! I'm so glad everything turned out. I can't believe you went that long having contractions. So hard. And having to be life flighted. Scary experience. I'm so happy for you guys that she's here safe and sound. She's adorable!